Review: Nova Defence – A Space-Age Tower Defense for iOS

When I was young, there were a handful of completely realistic careers that I thought I might someday pursue. I imagined being an astronaut, a video game tester, a professional candy taster, or a superhero. Thanks to the imagination of some talented developers, the melding of some of those youthful dream jobs has become a reality, as iOS based game (video game tester) Nova Defence allows me to save the world (superhero) from space creatures (Astronaut).

Overview:

Nova Defence for iOS (free in the App Store) is a traditional “tower defense” type game, with the premise that aliens have invaded your planet, and it’s up to you to build turrets, barracks, and towers to fortify the path and keep the aliens at bay. With simple on-screen graphics and a “hurry up and wait” play style, it’s a unique game in it’s own right.

The concept of Nova Defence is simple: build various defensive structures at set points along your path, and optimize your effectiveness against the alien resistance.

Starting out, you are provided one (1) Assault character, who acts as a super-defender. He is mobile and packs decent firepower, making him an important player in the effort to stop the invasion. You are also allowed an initial sum of gold (200 pieces to start with, increasing with each level), which allows you to purchase/build a few different towers (Machine Gun Turret, Bunker, Laser Turret, or Mortar Cannon), each of which is priced based on effectiveness (more expensive to more potential damage).

From there, the waves of aliens march down the path, and your setup of defensive structures takes over to ward off the oncoming insurgence, much like other tower defense games. As you destroy the aliens, you collect their gold (apparently that’s the choice currency on other planets?) which then allows you to build more structures or upgrade existing ones.

Comparing Nova Defence to other iOS games, the graphics are nothing to brag about, and the game play has certainly been done before. That being said, it is somewhat fun to see how a tower defense game can be adapted and to challenge yourself to use fewer structures in a single round, and to challenge yourself to keep as many aliens out of your territory as possible. As levels progress, the alien opponents become more difficult to face, meaning that the game can only get more interesting the longer you play (at least in theory).

Verdict

Nova Defence is a space-age war version of a somewhat tired tower defense style game. While this means there’s nothing incredible new or innovative to the concept, it is entertaining none-the-less.

Unlike many other similar offerings in the App Store, Nova Defence includes “boss” enemies which also make for an exciting alternative, as they require more foresight and a higher level of strategy than just overloading the map with turrets.

With some more advanced graphics, Nova Defence could really be a show stopper, akin to Total Annihilation, WarCraft, or StarCraft (from back in the early PC gamer days).

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Ian Fuchs

Ian, Senior Review Editor at MacTrast, has been an Apple enthusiast for years, starting in 2000 with an iMac and iMovie. In college, Ian developed skills and further interest in all things Apple. Ian's expanding skill set increased his love for Apple's products. Now the owner of an iPad Air 2, iPad mini, iPhone 6S Plus, Apple TV, MacBook, MacBook Pro, numerous iPods, and a classic G5 Mac Pro, he is "pretty familiar" with Apple's products. Ian resides in Chicago, works as a Programmer & Systems Analyst at a college, loves his dog more than probably normal, spends most of his free time with his wife and plays various instruments (drums, guitar, piano, trumpet).